Brenda, thank you. You got it. Songs were my metaphor for poems, but the songs were students too.

Gloria, glad you liked that last line. I'm hoping it's the triple entendre I wanted it to be.

Margoroby, thank you. I hadn't really realized it until you pointed it out, but the first four stanzas are all self-contained, each one about a particular type of poem/song/student, while in the next two, each line is like that. Thank you, I take "seeming simplicity" as high praise.

Wow, Stan. Wow! Thank you. (I'm speechless).

Elizabeth, thank you for your kind words. I was happy to share this one.

SweetTalkingGuy, you do talk sweet. Thanks so much; your comment made me laugh.

whenwordsescape, yes, I've shared some b-sides already this month, and I've got some demos I'm embarrassed to show to anyone.

Amy, thank you. You're absolutely right. I've learned a lot from my students, just as I've learned a lot from writing poems. I will treasure "lovely"; I don't often get that compliment for my poems.

Pamela, yes, we do. And sometimes we succeed in giving them life enough to go out on their own - poems and children. And I think they nourish us in return.